Posted by
mrfluffy
from A wide spot on I-90 in Montana on 04/12/12 at 03:27 PM ET

It’s nice to see the media from all sides coming out against this, even if the league didn’t.

Meanwhile, I am genuinely, genuinely concerned for what will happen on friday, they’ve just made doing something like that fair game because “The player wasn’t injured on the play”.

Is it too late to call up Darren McCarty for some turtle time?

Posted by
jimathor
from The land of Sir Humblepatch of Bumblehound on 04/12/12 at 03:29 PM ET

The NHL brass is a complete, pathetic joke.

This ^^^^^^

Posted by
Vladimir16
from Grand River Valley on 04/12/12 at 03:31 PM ET

Wings fan or not, this isn’t what I pay to watch. I guess that a player can do whatever they want as long as the receiving player isn’t injured. I don’t care if Weber didn’t fully connect with his first attempt to put Zetterburg’s face through the glass, the intent to injure was pretty obvious. I feel like the principle of this situation is parallel to the Lucic hit on Miller.

Posted by
11B3PF7 in MN
on 04/12/12 at 03:32 PM ET

Adding to Russo’s take, I hope PHI does do this to Crosby. Pay the 2,500 and play the next game. The precedence for the playoffs have been set.

Posted by
11B3PF7 in MN
on 04/12/12 at 03:37 PM ET

Oh, but us Wings fans are just paranoid!

Welcome to what we knew years ago, rest of the NHL fan-base.

Posted by
Red Winger
from work on 04/12/12 at 03:40 PM ET

Aaron Portzline-

Weber grabbed Zetterberg’s head and slammed it into the glass like a WWE ‘roid freak using a turnbuckle. It’s absolutely indefensible.

Apparently, Shanahan doesn’t think so. As Head of Discipline, he’s clearly lost his way – and his mind.

Last fall, he gives Brendan Smith eight games (three pre-season and five regular season) for an inadvertant elbow to Ben Smith’s head. But Weber taking Hank’s head in his hand and deliberately driving it into the glass, well, that’s a whopping 2500 bucks.

You don’t have to have a tin-foil hat on to see that something is drastically out of whack here.

Posted by
bezukov
from the kids are alright. on 04/12/12 at 03:50 PM ET

this isn’t what I pay to watch

Especially ‘cause they took my money this week for game center live and then blacked it all out. So i now pay to watch nothing.

As much as i love the wings, and the game in general, the NHL just keeps making it harder and harder to be a fan. How can anyone continue to justify the amount of money, and time, and energy devoted to such a joke of a league.

Posted by
jwad
on 04/12/12 at 04:01 PM ET

this has nothing to do with “conspiracy” and everything to do with “playoff competition”. I’m certain that if Kronwall did the same thing to them he also would have only been fined. The league is extremely hesitant to get in the middle of a playoff series that is bound to be tight beyond belief. They know as well as we do that losing Weber for game two could absolutely alter the entire series (as it should!). I think Shanahan would actually be the first to admit that he would have suspended him in either pre or regular season, but the standard is simply raised in the playoffs, whether we like it or not. As Shanahan said at the GM meeting, he looks at the playoffs as a “7 game season”, meaning games and punishments have a skewed weight. I think there was an implicit message in his language that while the league is willing to take the flak of the media on this one, the line has now been drawn and folks better think twice before straying this close again. But perhaps I’m reading too much into it.

Either way, my main point is that year after year, the tin-foil hat crowd likes to act like the league is specifically targeting the Wings or something, when the league’s agenda seems pretty straightforward and obvious… it’s all about ratings, it’s all about revenue, it’s all about popularity, it’s all about competition, and their policy decisions have nothing to do with specific teams as much as they have to do with hoping every single series goes 7 games and every single game goes to double OT. If taking it easy on Weber (or Kronwall or Malkin or whoever…) helps to push that agenda, they are going to simply weigh how bad the PR will be and how they will have to spin their decision and then they are going to do what they feel they need to do. That’s how it works every year. Whenever a team in the playoff starts to get an advantage because they are crashing the net hard, or screening the goalie too well, or subtly interfering too well in the neutral zone, the next game the refs magically “crack down” on that advantage. The team getting shafted then thinks the league is after THEIR team because the change in standard is just so obvious, but really the league seems like they could really give a crap who advances and who wins it all as long as every game is close.

If I were to believe in any true NHL conspiracy, it would be that in the playoffs, the league basically instructs the refs to “keep it fair”, “keep it close”, basically mandating makeup calls and letting the score dictate how the game is called. They can easily ethically justify this to themselves by telling the refs to apply this (inherently uneven) standard evenly to all teams.

They know as well as we do that losing Weber for game two could absolutely alter the entire series

...so let him get away with shit that would normally result in a suspension.

Sorry, your explanation still makes the NHL look foolish and just a step above WWE.

Posted by
Red Winger
from work on 04/12/12 at 04:14 PM ET

[quoteMichael Russo-

ummm think if Sidney Crosby got his head smashed only 2500
]

Russo is a douche.

No way Weber should be allowed on the ice for the rest of the series. I just do not understand how someone can take both hands, grab a guys head, and smash it into the glass TWICE, and not be suspended.

You can almost see Weber laughing about it in the dressing room today after hearing of his fine.

Perfection…you’re right. It would completely alter the series…but like RWer said above…I suppose it’s ok for the sake of the game to remain intact since Z wasn’t hurt by the play.

From here on out, every suspension that gets handed down due to headshots should be viley contested by the Player’s Union and the Owner of the team the perp is on. The League obviously isn’t doing much in regards to heashots.

Posted by
mrfluffy
from A wide spot on I-90 in Montana on 04/12/12 at 04:22 PM ET

This isn’t wrestling, it’s hockey. Weber should be suspended, I personally think for the balance of the series. The fact of the matter is he intentionally tried to injure a player on the opposing team not once but twice in a matter of seconds. The fact that the play had absolutely nothing to do with hockey makes it even worse in my mind.

Ridiculous, bezukov might be right on the apology front.

Posted by
Iggy_Rules
on 04/12/12 at 04:26 PM ET

So my “explanation” was in no way supposed to let the NHL off the hook. This is what happens when you are desperate for ratings. The NFL does in fact operate differently specifically because they ARE NOT desperate for ratings and revenue. Again, my only point is that I don’t think it has anything to do with the fact that Weber is on Nashville or that the play happened against the Wings. I think they would have applied this cheap, desperate, standard to just about any star on any playoff team. And obviously if Z got hurt, then they would have suspended him. Plain and simple.

The fact is that Weber intended to cause harm to Zetterberg’s head. That the NHL would merely fine a player, let alone for a pitance of only $2,500, is absurd. This would never had stood had it been Crosby, even if there had been no harm, and rightly so.

Posted by
JDLink
from Washington DC on 04/12/12 at 04:36 PM ET

Perfection if the NHL is serious about player saftey, espeically with contac to the head, then why should a players injury be the deciding factor on a suspension or a fine. If they are trying to prevent injury to players, and you have a case of intent to injure by slamming head against glass, thats so fn obvious, suspend the guy for the crime. Its that simple. Everyone seems to get it, except the NHL. Have you ever seen the media come out like they have and say WTF NHL? like they have today. If I were the Wings brass right now I’d be pissed. I’d be tempted to sign some goon to a tryout contract just to run Weber until 1. Webers out of the game 2. said player gets tossed. I mean he’d take away 2 minutes of ice time from emmerton.

Posted by
T
on 04/12/12 at 04:45 PM ET

Your logic is wrong perfection, I can see your angle, but do you think showing everyone that your league is clown shoes generates money? Nobody gives a fuch if the series is double OT every game if it’s scripted. So by failing in this instance I think you lose money/fan base in the long run.

so…. JDLink, you clearly like to talk shit, but obviously aren’t very good at READING. You are arguing with the wrong person. I didn’t make the call! Of course I think it was worthy of a suspension. It was goonery at it’s finest and calculatedly done at a time in the game when there couldn’t be any real repercussions… I’ll say it again, I’m not trying to let the league off the hook. It’s possible that if it were Crosby, there would have been a suspension, but unlike you, I don’t think it has anything to do with Crosby’s star status and everything to do with his concussion history. I think if someone does this same play to Daniel Sedin his first game back, they will also be suspended. They league has explicitly stated that they take circumstance, history AND injury on the play into account. So, yes, theoretically the same play in a different circumstance could have resulted in a different result. The league has admitted as much outright.

The league has also admitted to having a higher punitive standard in the playoffs than they do in the regular season. And while I personally don’t agree with the decision, I do think it was a business decision rather than the league playing favorites or trying to help the Predators or something. Why do you people keep reading my words as some sort of defense of the NHL? I’m clearly not saying that at all. I just think this was an extremely predictable outcome and am somewhat shocked by all of the supposed surprise here. Playoff leniency has happened before and it’ll happen again.

so I’m with you and I think the league is actually with you too… but there is a grey area with plays like this. I’m sure the league quite literally weighs the PR consequences of NOT levying a suspension against the perceived value of keeping a Norris caliber defender in the series.

With this play in particular, I don’t think it’s so flagrant that the lack of suspension makes the series “scripted” by any means, but I do think if Z was injured in any way, Weber would have been suspended without hesitation. But, again, that’s more about evening the score. One team loses a star player so the other team loses a star player. It’s about maintaining competition for them. Perhaps the NHL loses some face on this judgment, but they also know the way playoff storylines work… this is only a story until the next one. Game 2 will create a whole new story and people will stop talking about this one… unless Shea Weber wasn’t allowed to play on Friday, then that’s all people would be talking about.

perfection - I read just fine, but don’t agree with your logic. I was not extremely predictable, though perhaps it should have been. It was an egrious blatent cheap shot with an intent to injure. Why would someone expect ratings to win out voer that? Weber is not a huge draw and Nashville is not a hockey mecca. And yet the expectation is that Weber was not fined to keep rating up? That ignores reality. Moreover, it assumes that goonish wrestling behavior does not turn off more viewers, or that suspending weber would have resulted in people watching something else. I see no support for that.

I am not a conspiracy buff, nor do I think this is some plot against the Wings. What I do think is that NHL looks not at the action or legality, but on the end result. Z was fine, so no harm. Simple, ignorant justice. That Weber’s actions were intentional and designed to harm is of no consequence. I do agree that despite this awful action, the NHL does not want to hurt Nashville’s chances as Weber is a top defenseman. The fact that such hard was entirely self inflicted seems to escape them. However, the playoffs don’t mean no suspension, they typically mean a lesser suspension. Sometimes no suspension if the play was eary in the game and resulted in an ejection. But to not suspend at all ignores the scores of other suspensions for far lesser infractions.

Posted by
JDLink
on 04/12/12 at 05:13 PM ET

This would never had stood had it been Crosby, even if there had been no harm, and rightly so.

First, @pefection, I agree to a point. I don’t think this is any bias against any team (or for any team). I think it is simply a show of how the NHL is still in the stone-age. Playoff hockey has always been officiated by a different set of rules than regular season. “Back in the day” the edict was always that, in the playoffs, letting ‘em play a little bit was better than ruining a crucial series by calling that one bad penalty, and that power plays should shake out roughly even so the two teams are playing on “level ground.”

Forgetting for a second that that was always horribly illogical and misguided, the real point is that this is just the same attitude the NHL has had for a long long time continuing on. It really has nothing to do with supplemental discipline, even.

The issue is more systemic and frankly, I have no ideas on how to solve it. Perhaps officials should be subject to public supplemental discipline for their most egregious performances (like last night’s offside Briere goal, or the softy penalty parade in Nashville). But that would require the league office to get their shit together, and as this Weber fine shows, they just do not have it together, at all.

Russo is a douche.

No way Weber should be allowed on the ice for the rest of the series. I just do not understand how someone can take both hands, grab a guys head, and smash it into the glass TWICE, and not be suspended.

You can almost see Weber laughing about it in the dressing room today after hearing of his fine.

Posted by gretzky_to_lemieux on 04/12/12 at 02:22 PM ET

I have to take a little issue with that… I do think, like it or not, it would’ve been different if it were Crosby. Not specifically because it was Crosby, but because of his recent and severe history with head injuries. Substitute a name like Patrice Bergeron or Marc Savard into the same hypothetical and I think it holds true.

So, I definitely agree with you if the implication from Russo was that the result would’ve been different if Crosby had been the victim because he’s the league’s prime time player. But I think Russo could’ve meant the reaction would’ve been different if it were Crosby on account of his very public struggle with head injuries the last two years.

I have to take a little issue with that… I do think, like it or not, it would’ve been different if it were Crosby. Not specifically because it was Crosby, but because of his recent and severe history with head injuries. Substitute a name like Patrice Bergeron or Marc Savard into the same hypothetical and I think it holds true.

I simply do not agree with you. Crosby was out of the league since January 1st missed the rest of the 2011 season, the playoffs, and misses the first 3 months of the 2012 season. At which point he takes an elbow to the head from Krecji and there was no overreaction or fine or suspension simply because it was Crosby.

Granted it was not the same knuckle-dragging action of Weber, but it was enough to show me that the league doesnt have a seperate set of rules for Crosby (as it shouldnt). To constanlty suggest that the penguins or Crosby would get some sort of special treatment after ANY incident throughout the playoffs is getting nuts.

I could only imagine if the pens were down 3-0 last night, and Crosby took that pass from letang in the second period (2 feet offsides) and scored. Could you imagine what KK would be filled with today?

“We felt this was a reckless and reactionary play on which Weber threw a glancing punch and then shoved Zetterberg’s head into the glass,” NHL senior vice president of player safety Brendan Shanahan said in a statement on NHL.com “We reached out to Detroit following the game and were informed that Zetterberg did not suffer an apparent injury and should be in the lineup for Game 2.”

So in other words, Ken Holland could’ve lied, said Zetterberg was hurt, and the odds of a suspension would’ve gone up? At which point of course, Z would’ve been considered “questionable,” the media would’ve made a big deal about what would happen with him after the pre-game skate on Friday, and when he chose to “gut it out” he would’ve been considered a hero…

Such is the absurdity of the culture in the NHL. You’re a bigger hero for lying than you are for telling the truth.

The offside stuff isn’t really relevant, is it? I’m not at all trying to troll you, I hope and think you know that.

Forget the name Crosby. I would agree Russo was dumb to use the name Crosby, because he’s either A) implying that such a hypothetical would be different because he’s the “golden boy,” which is obviously wrong and I agree with you on that, or B) it makes his real point of hitting a guy with a recent public history of head injuries ambiguous and difficult to understand. Granted, it is Twitter, but he is a writer, he should know ambiguity is a problem.

So I think we agree on everything to this point… to recap, I agree, it is inaccurate to say that Crosby gets special treatment because he’s Crosby.

Where I guess we disagree is that I do think that if a player, whether it be Crosby, Bergeron or someone else, with some name recognition and a recent history of serious head injuries, were the victim of Weber’s actions here, it would’ve been approached different, because the concussion/head injury issue would’ve been more visible, and the NHL wants to avoid that.

When can this become about Webber? Maybe he should have thought about what a dumb ass move that was before putting his team in jeopardy of losing him? Webber is an idiot and should pay a 1 game suspension for being a dumb ass alone.

Where I guess we disagree is that I do think that if a player, whether it be Crosby, Bergeron or someone else, with some name recognition and a recent history of serious head injuries, were the victim of Weber’s actions here, it would’ve been approached different, because the concussion/head injury issue would’ve been more visible, and the NHL wants to avoid that

Very possible. It also may have been due to Zetterberg not actually being injured, considering the recent acknowledgment that Shanny actually called the redwings to see if Zetterberg was ok prior to his decision.

I hate that the nhl weighs the results more then the intent. And saying he shouldnt be suspended because it would affect the series is outrageous. This was a malicious act, with intent to injure, after the horn, by a repeat offender. This was not a hockey play, that resulted in contact to the head, or a borderline boarding or charging call that resulted in injury.

This morning i thought if the nhl wants to have any credibility on headshots, Weber needs to be suspended for the remainder of the first round. If they only want to appearance of credibility, they would give him one game, because he is a repeat offender. And if they want to showcase their model non traditional market team, they would maybe give him a fine, and Gary would congratulate them on getting to host an upcoming all-star game.

NHL is a joke

Posted by
jwad
on 04/12/12 at 06:45 PM ET

I guess what gets me is the idea that the message is that the NHL only cares about head injuries after you get them, not before. I do believe that if it were Crosby, or any player with previous head injury like Sedin, the punishment would have been different. Yet since Z does not have the history, he is an open target? That makes no sense to me.

Further, it makes no sense from an enforcement perpective. Players don’t know what is permitted. This play was fine, but on the tenth time Webber does it there was a screw loose on the board that cuts Z, now he is suspended? Where is the logic in that?

Posted by
JDLink
on 04/12/12 at 07:06 PM ET

There is only one way to stop this sort of goonery. Brave old Clarence Campbell suspended Maurice Richard for the remainder of the playoffs for something similar. Of course this caused a riot in Montreal. Now if anyone remembers his “leadership”, Campbell was a nervous nelly handwringer, not a forceful commissioner at all.

You pull crap like that you should be suspended for a long, long time.

I’ve been following this game for longer than The Evil Garden Gnome has been alive and I have never seen anything so gutless as that garbage.